I come from a family of six. I have a mother, father as well as two older brothers and a younger sister. My eldest brother is six years older than I am, and with such an age difference, we were never in the same school at the same time. My other brother, Joseph, is just 2 years ahead of me academically so throughout my education, I have always overlapped with him in each school. For example, when I was a freshman in high school, he was a junior. Being close behind him in my schooling, there was always the opportunity to compare us as students.
Ever since we were just little kids, Joe was an avid reader. He would always have a book in his hands. Whenever I asked him to play with me, he would tell me he could play but only after he finished two more chapters. I, on the other hand, was less interested in books and more interested in playing around. Even when it came to bedtime and my parents would come read to me before I fell asleep, I would sometimes ask them not to because I would rather go straight to bed. That was one of the big differences between me and Joe from our childhood.
In my elementary school, there was a program called the constellation. The “constellation” was a program in which the same class of about 20 kids goes from first to fifth grade together, just changing teachers along the way. The rest of the school mixed the classes up so that everyone was with a different class after every year. Both Joe and I were in the constellation for our elementary years. The teachers who taught in the constellation remained the same for his years and mine. I had every single one of his teachers just two years later. Both of us did well throughout elementary school.
When we reached middle school, everything changed for us. We were then separated into “kivas”. Though Joe and I had our kivas on the same level of the building, our kivas were entirely different. Throughout my middle school, I only had one teacher that Joe had had before me. We both continued to get good grades during middle school, but it was during my last years in middle school that I noticed our attitudes towards school were very different. I tended to be more focused on the social aspect and less focused on all my studies whereas he was really into his classes.
It was in high school that our differences in education showed more prevalently. There was a greater focus on grades and academic performance in our high school years because of testing and applying to college. Joe came home with straight A’s for most of high school, a rare feat. He had taken many AP courses and scored well on the tests so he already had 12 college credits, almost a full year of college completed before he even went there. When I was a sophomore, my brother graduated from high school as third in his class. He was obviously very bright and motivated. I was also a good student and motivated to do well. Our main difference what that although I naturally excelled in math and science, my interest was in the humanities. I was involved in indoor track and tennis for all my four years in high school and soccer for two of them. I tried my best all the way through to my senior year. I was happy with the effort I put into my education, although I did not graduate third in my class and also did not have straight A’s on every report card.
Having Joe as my older brother affected the way I learned from kindergarten up until the moment I graduated from my senior year. I understood that he was very bright and did very well in school. I also knew that I must do well in school too and always to try my best. However, I learned that it is unreasonable to drive myself crazy trying to be the student that Joe is. We have different ways of learning and different interests. It is not fair to expect the same out of both of us. Instead, I always found that as long as I did my best, I as well as my parents would be proud of my work. We now go to different universities yet this effect on my education is still affecting me as a college student.
I enjoyed your story, but you left me curious about you got along with your brother. I also think your introduction could do more to set us up to focus on the relationship between you and Joe. - fogleman
EDC 102h
My Education
I come from a family of six. I have a mother, father as well as two older brothers and a younger sister. My eldest brother is six years older than I am, and with such an age difference, we were never in the same school at the same time. My other brother, Joseph, is just 2 years ahead of me academically so throughout my education, I have always overlapped with him in each school. For example, when I was a freshman in high school, he was a junior. Being close behind him in my schooling, there was always the opportunity to compare us as students.
Ever since we were just little kids, Joe was an avid reader. He would always have a book in his hands. Whenever I asked him to play with me, he would tell me he could play but only after he finished two more chapters. I, on the other hand, was less interested in books and more interested in playing around. Even when it came to bedtime and my parents would come read to me before I fell asleep, I would sometimes ask them not to because I would rather go straight to bed. That was one of the big differences between me and Joe from our childhood.
In my elementary school, there was a program called the constellation. The “constellation” was a program in which the same class of about 20 kids goes from first to fifth grade together, just changing teachers along the way. The rest of the school mixed the classes up so that everyone was with a different class after every year. Both Joe and I were in the constellation for our elementary years. The teachers who taught in the constellation remained the same for his years and mine. I had every single one of his teachers just two years later. Both of us did well throughout elementary school.
When we reached middle school, everything changed for us. We were then separated into “kivas”. Though Joe and I had our kivas on the same level of the building, our kivas were entirely different. Throughout my middle school, I only had one teacher that Joe had had before me. We both continued to get good grades during middle school, but it was during my last years in middle school that I noticed our attitudes towards school were very different. I tended to be more focused on the social aspect and less focused on all my studies whereas he was really into his classes.
It was in high school that our differences in education showed more prevalently. There was a greater focus on grades and academic performance in our high school years because of testing and applying to college. Joe came home with straight A’s for most of high school, a rare feat. He had taken many AP courses and scored well on the tests so he already had 12 college credits, almost a full year of college completed before he even went there. When I was a sophomore, my brother graduated from high school as third in his class. He was obviously very bright and motivated. I was also a good student and motivated to do well. Our main difference what that although I naturally excelled in math and science, my interest was in the humanities. I was involved in indoor track and tennis for all my four years in high school and soccer for two of them. I tried my best all the way through to my senior year. I was happy with the effort I put into my education, although I did not graduate third in my class and also did not have straight A’s on every report card.
Having Joe as my older brother affected the way I learned from kindergarten up until the moment I graduated from my senior year. I understood that he was very bright and did very well in school. I also knew that I must do well in school too and always to try my best. However, I learned that it is unreasonable to drive myself crazy trying to be the student that Joe is. We have different ways of learning and different interests. It is not fair to expect the same out of both of us. Instead, I always found that as long as I did my best, I as well as my parents would be proud of my work. We now go to different universities yet this effect on my education is still affecting me as a college student.
I enjoyed your story, but you left me curious about you got along with your brother. I also think your introduction could do more to set us up to focus on the relationship between you and Joe. -